Monday, October 2, 2017

We had a heatwave at the Stoweflake Resort and Spa for the Ninth Annual Vermont Pumpkin Chuckin Festival with 11 teams competing in the chuck, 1 throw for show, 5 teams in the Chili Cook-Off, 43 volunteers and over 1300 spectators enjoying the chuckin', chili, beer, wine, food, raffles, two bands, face-painting, balloon animals, games and volleyball. Over $5,000 was raised for the Lamoille Restorative Center (Hyde Park) whose staff and volunteers did an amazing job running the festival. LRC is doing great work and it was a pleasure to work with them.Moosilauke Hurlers sweep the event!

The Chamberlain brothers from New Hampshire have been coming to the festival for six years, arriving early with their trailer of two trebuchets in the middleweight open division. This year Ray Chamberlain won the Middleweight Open division *and* overall Best Design by throwing 326 feet. His brother Ed was slightly behind at 276 feet and way ahead of the rest of the field.

I often get asked why the scaling, height and weight limitations and penalties are so complicated. The answer is, they need to be that complicated to make it fair for all competitors. If a trebuchet design is made twice as tall, it will throw twice as far. This allows us to directly compare the design of a lightweight, middleweight and heavyweight by scaling up the smaller trebuchets so they compete on equal footing with the heavyweights. By comparing their relative heights, the magic number is roughly 2.9 for the lightweight and 1.7 for the middleweights. This is how we select the Best Design Grand Prize. The four winners of each division are scaled up to Heavyweight size. The Lightweight winner is scaled up by 2.9, both Middlweight winners are scaled up by 1.71 and the Heavyweight winner is not scaled. The best “scaled” distance wins the Grand Prize. In nine years, it has gone to the Heavyweights 3 times and to the Middlweight Open 6 times.

A trebuchet must be powered only by gravity, so by limiting the height and weight, we ensure each competitor starts with the same amount of energy. If they choose to make their frame very light, they can use more weight in the counterweight, at the risk of breaking something. It takes more energy to throw a heavier pumpkin, so the pumpkins must be at, or over, the specified weight to be legal.

If a trebuchet is over-height or over-weight, we don't kick them out of the festival; we allow them to compete with a penalty roughly proportional to how much they are out of spec. The penalty isn't really so much a penalty as a proportional offset to correct for the weight or height advantage beyond the “legal” limits.

The following summary of each division will show the adjusted distance, after scaling up including any penalty. If you want the actual distance, just divide by the appropriate scaling.Summary of all competitors (all distances adjusted and scaled up to Heavyweight)
Lightweight Division: (scaling 2.9268)

1st place: Steven Mccann, 276 feet

2nd place: Theresa Tipper, 228 feet

3rd place: Owen Christman, 218 feet

4th place: Barclay Johnson, 185 feet

5th place: Theresa Tipper, 172 feet

Middleweight Junior Division: (scaling 1.7142)

1st place: Keiser Nesbitt, 282 feet

Middleweight Open Division: (scaling 1.7142

1st place: Ray Chamberlain, 509 feet

2nd place: Ed Chamberlin, 456 feet

3rd place: John Christman, 330 feet

4th place: Nick Helms, 63 feet

Heavyweight Division: (no scaling)

1st place: Troop 271, 83 feet

Throw for show:

Dave Jordan, 185 feet

Chili Cook-Off champions:

The chili cook-off was a great success with three competitors and running out of chili before the end of the festival. Thanks for Keith Thompson running the show. In the feel-good hit of the festival, all of the winners donated their cash prize back to the Lamoille Restorative Center, in Hyde Park, Vermont. Here are the winners:

A special thanks to our main sponsor, Stoweflake Mountain Resort and Spa for letting us use their beautiful field for free, as well as all the other sponsors:

North Country Federal Credit Union

Alpine Snowguards

The Alchemist

H.A. Manosh

Community National Bank

Smugglers Notch Resort

Stowe Country Club

Stowe Beverage

Union Bank

People's United Bank

MSI

El Toro

Thompson's Flour Shop

Laraway Youth and Family Services

The UPS Store - Stowe

Donald Blake Jr, Inc.

Ideltyme

Power Play Sports

Turtle Fur

Elmore Lakeview Farmstead

Stowe Motel

Stowe Soaring

PP&D

Special thanks to Bruce Wallace and his family for being the Master of Ceremonies and helping for the last 7 years, to Nick Pizzutti and Alyssa Gagne for registration and calculating the winners, to Gunner McCain for quick, cheery distance readings, to Mike Dunn for excellent sound system and House Dunn and John Smyth for great music, to Bob Gross and Russell Baum for helping out with safety and setup for the last 9 years.

We look forward to the next festival, Sept. 30th, 2018 at the Stoweflake.

Friday, September 22, 2017

Monday, September 18, 2017

Who doesn't love Tom Hanks? His David S. Pumpkins character from SNL will apparently be making a reappearance according to a recent tweet from Hanks. You can't go wrong with a Pumpkin Song opening.

Prancing around in a pumpkin suit seems like a dream job. Maybe we'll get our own Dave Pumpkins to ditch the Viking helmet and go with a pumpkin suit.

Pumpkins Rule

Our very own home grown Vermont pumpkins will soon be doing their own performance this coming Sunday, Sept. 24, 2017, at the Stoweflake Mountain Resort, in Stowe, Vermont. Come on out and see our Vermont Pumpkin Chuckin' Festival. We have music, food, and fun ($10 admission, free for 4 and under). And it all goes to support a great cause, the Lamoille Restorative Center, in Hyde Park, Vermont, which promotes healthy families and communities within the Lamoille Valley Region of Vermont.

Proceeds of September 24th event to benefit Lamoille Restorative Center

Stowe, Vermont, Aug. 11, 2017 – This year marks 9 years of the Vermont Pumpkin Chuckin’ (VTPC) Festival. This festival celebrates the sport of “chuckin’” pumpkins, for distance, using a do-it-yourself constructed trebuchet or gravity-powered catapult. Festival founder, Dave Jordan, describes the event as a cross between a Soap Box Derby (amateur building/engineering) and a shot put contest (throwing for distance). The event is a great opportunity for kids of all ages to build something with their hands and engage in some family friendly competition. Records have been broken every year; last year's winner threw 689 feet!

The VTPC Festival is one-day event and has grown every year. This event is sponsored by the Stoweflake Resort and Spa and many other local sponsors. The event benefits the Lamoille Restorative Center, which has a thirty-seven year history addressing unlawful behaviors, supporting victims of crime, and promoting healthy families and communities within the Lamoille Valley Region of Vermont.

Mark your calendar for Sunday, September 24th, 2017. The Festival runs from 11am to 4pm and features three rounds of competitive pumpkin chuckin’ at 12:30pm, 1:30pm and 2:30pm with awards shortly after the last round. No dogs or outside food or beverage are allowed at the event. Admission to the Festival is $10.00 and parking is free. Food, beer and wine will be sold by Stoweflake.

Along with the pumpkin chuckin’ contest there will be music, a chili cook-off, and kids activities; all creating an enjoyable fall day. Music for this year's festival will be provided by two bands; House Dunn, John and Jen, which will be performing from 11am to 4pm.

Monday, August 28, 2017

Hey, all you Vermont Pumpkin Chuckin' fans the 9th Annual Vermont Pumpkin Chuckin' Festival is now less than 4 weeks away. Sunday, September 24 is coming up fast. Hope all of you are having a great summer. All systems are go and we are all getting excited to see who has their trebuchets dialed in for maximum pumpkin chuckin' performance this year.

Don't forget we have a Chili Cook-off contest and great music also going on, to round out a great fall Sunday afternoon in Vermont. The weather has been great the last several years and we're counting on it again. Stay strong Houston.

We also want to the word out about the Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vermont hosting their very first Mini Pumpkin Chuckin' competition at the end of October. Sounds like a great event and for our younger competitors, in the lightweight division, another fantastic opportunity to compete on a small scale. Adults and teams of up to eight can also compete at their 20 lb. trebuchet weight limit.

What’s a Mini Pumpkin Chuckin'? It’s where brilliant minds put their collective brains together in order to launch pumpkins through the air via a trebuchet (a type of catapult used to launch projectiles – like pumpkins)! On Sunday, October 29, during Shelburne Museum’s annual Haunted Happenings Family Day we will be hosting our first ever Mini Pumpkin Chuckin', with demonstrations at 10:30 am and 12:30 pm.

Shelburne Museum invites young and old, experienced chuckers and novices alike, to get creative and show the town what happens when science meet squash. This whimsical competition is open to teams of up to 8 individuals. Everyone is encouraged to participate – civic organizations, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, 4H’ers, local school groups, neighbors or families – and show off their engineering skills. There are two divisions: Junior for participants under the age of 17 and Adult. Each division is limited to 5 teams so early registration is encouraged!

All participants will gain free entry to other Haunted Happenings events. Accompanying family/guests need to purchase tickets. Tickets are $7 and can be purchased the day of Haunted Happenings at Shelburne Museum. Details here.

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Also, don't forget the Jay Community Recreational Centre in Jay, VT would like to have a trebuchet or catapult demonstrate their pumpkin chuckin' prowess at their Fall event, which will be held on Saturday, October 7th, 2017, two weeks after our VTPC. If you are interested please contact: Sally Rivard, Jay Community Recreational Centre, tel: 802-318-1206.

Finally, we noticed that the big boy Delaware Punkin Chunkin event (WCPC) looks like it is not happening this year. Sad. So stay small, stay local and chunk your pumpkins, squash, and fresh fruit in Vermont.

Saturday, August 12, 2017

For the fourth year in a row, the Vermont Pumpkin Chuckin’ Festival is proud to offer a People’s Choice Chili Cook-off Contest during the festival. This year the chili contest/VTPC Festival is at Stoweflake Mountain Resort on Sunday, September 24th, 2017. Last year we had seven competitors and ran out of chili before the end of the festival. Keith Thompson, owner of Thompson’s flour shop in Morrisville, has graciously agreed to return to organize the competition for us. Help us keep this fun tradition going!

Friday, June 30, 2017

Brian Labrie, captain of the current WCPCA Champion and World Record Holder (air cannon), Team American Chunker, sent us an invitation to his big New England event: ExtremeChunkin. It will be held on October 14-15, 2017, at the Louden, New Hampshire Speedway. Last year they had four trebuchets competing in the adult division and four in the youth division. Team Yankee Siege II won the trebuchet division last year with a throw of 2608.44 feet. Yankee Scout won the Eastern Propane and Fuel Youth division, four teams competing, with a throw of 491.43 feet. Anyone with an interest in the sport of pumpkin chunkin should head over to Loudon, NH, in October to either watch or compete.

I hope all is well with you and your chunkin group. The Extreme Chunkin crew would like to invite you again to the 3rd annual punkin chunkin event in Loudon, NH. If you have any teams that you think may want to make the journey we would like to formally invite them! Hope you can make it!

Saturday, May 13, 2017

The final results for the 2016 World Championship Punkin Chunkin were recently posted on their website. Because the accident happened during the final 3rd round of the Adult Air Cannon competition, and that chunk round was not completed, none of the chunks from that round were counted in the final results.

PunkinChunkin.com:2016 Results -- here are some of the notable results...

Adult Air Cannons

Machine Name

Chunk 1

Chunk 2

1st

American Chunker Inc

3338.82

4305.82

2nd

Big 10 Inch

pie

3866.58

3rd

Please Release Me

3257.27

3864.48

Adult Trebuchet

Machine Name

Chunk 1

Chunk 2

Chunk 3

1st

Colossal Thunder

2214.59

pie

2625.87

2nd

Yankee Seige II

1860.15

2603.63

1643.53

3rd

Punkin Hammer

pie

2509.44

1591.15

Youth Trebuchet

Machine Name

Chunk 1

Chunk 2

Chunk 3

1st

Stomach Virus

-

1171.55

-

2nd

Troop Six Shooter II

333.57

415.22

-

3rd

Harbuz

133.09

179.75

205.6

10 and Under Trebuchet

Machine Name

Chunk 1

Chunk 2

Chunk 3

1st

Pumpkin Pirates

434.22

466.64

550.43

2nd

Pop Pops Machine

325.15

499.16

230.46

3rd

Super Ray Trebuchet

97.89

219.53

227.7

Adult Human Power

Machine Name

Chunk 1

Chunk 2

Chunk 3

1st

Shooda Noed Beter

2343.42

2287.84

1870.2

2nd

Chunkster

1432.67

1580.85

1676.42

3rd

Genes Machine

backfire

991.02

1434.95

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History lesson

The Colossal Thunder trebuchet team from Oklahoma have the current world record for a trebuchet, but with an asterisk. Their record throw of 3,288.6* feet in the Adult Trebuchet division was recorded in October, 2015 at the WCPC sanctioned punkin chunk in Aurora, Colorado, Punkin Chunkin Colorado, which is held at an elevation above 5,000 feet. Therefore two records are listed, with Yankee Siege II holding the closer to sea level record of 2835.81 feet, set in 2013, for an Adult Trebuchet.

Tuesday, March 21, 2017

The big boy Punkin Chunkin event in Delaware is at a crossroads following the tragic accident at their World Championship Punkin Chunkin (WCPC) in Bridgeville, Delaware, on Sunday, November 6th, 2016.

The latest news is that the competition has lost its broadcast deal with the Science Channel. That announcement was made in mid-February. But, the WCPC president, Frank Payton, did say that the 2017 Punkin Chunkin will still be held November 3rd - 5th at Wheatley Fields near Bridgeville, Delaware. Now, they just need to find some new partners/sponsors to help support the event.

... Punkin Chunkin president Frank Payton says the Science Channel will not return to Delaware for the 2017 event. "With them withdrawing from the event, a major portion of the funding that we need to operate has left with them," Payton said. "We are in the market to establish new mutually beneficial partnerships for 2017."

Payton said the group already has a commitment from a farmer to host the event at Wheatley Farms near Bridgeville on Nov. 3-5, but they need more support to make it happen. "If you wish to see the Chunk continue, we need your support now more than ever," Payton said in a plea for help...

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Here's the link to the WCPC Facebook video of the full press conference.

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The details about the aftermath of the WCPC accident were not widely reported. Here is what happened.

During the last few hours of the WCPC competition, when the air cannons were completing their final round of firing, shortly before 2:40 pm, the "Pumpkin Reaper" air cannon blew a large metal trap door, about the size of a car door, off of it's air tank during their 3rd and final shot. The metal door flew about 30 to 40 feet high in the air and landed on two people, a 39-year-old women and a 56-year-old man. The most seriously injured was the women, Suzanne Dakessain, a video producer for the Science Channel. The heavy metal plate had hit her on the head. Ms. Dakessian was stabilized at Nanticoke Memorial Hospital and then flown to Christiana Hospital. She needed emergency surgery to remove part of her skull in order to relieve brain swelling and save her life. The male victim was also taken to Nanticoke Memorial Hospital. He received treatment for non-life-threatening injuries.

"There's a piece of bone missing from my head right now," Dakessian said. "I look in the mirror and see these purple raccoon eyes. Before this accident, my life was easy. My biggest concern was getting to work on time. Now, I struggle putting on a jacket. I struggle zipping a zipper. I struggle opening a sugar packet. Right now everything is very unpredictable but I'm just trying to stay hopeful."

As of late November, Ms. Dakessian was blind in one eye and she could not move one of her hands. She still required more surgery and she was transferring to New Jersey to take rehab.

Best wishes to Suzanne Dakessian for her speedy recovery.

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Pieces of ironically named "Pumpkin Reaper" are blown off the air cannon

Suzanne Dakessian's memory of the explosion is hazy. She ran as a large metal plate flew toward where she and other TV crew members were standing.

For a split second, she turned to see where the debris might land. That's when the plate struck her head.

I tried to run and I didn't make it," Dakessian said.

The 39-year-old New York television producer nearly died this month on a clear blue Sunday in a Delaware soybean field, where she was chronicling the 2016 World Championship Punkin Chunkin for the Science Channel...

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Although the final results were not formally published by WCPC, news reports from the event said that on the last day of the 2016 World Championship Punkin Chunkin competition the trebuchet, Colossal Thunder, from the Northeast Technology Center in Afton, Oklahoma, had won. This machine was built by high school welding students, who had won the youth trebuchet championship in 2013. This time they took home the adult championship, with a throw of 2,625 feet on the final day. Good job out of you OK folks.

Also, the New Hampshire air cannon, American Chunker, had fired a pumpkin 4,305.92 feet on Day 2 of the event. So it was apparently leading that competition, when the event was cancelled on Sunday following the accident. Good job out of American Chunker; Brian Labrie and his team did it again.

The American Chunker website has a bunch of nice pictures that were taken at the 2016 WTPC in Bridgeville, Delaware, including this last one:

There are now only 186 days until the Vermont Pumpkin Chuckin' Festival on Sunday, September 23, 2017. Do you know where your pumpkins are?

BTW, the Jay Community Recreational Centre in Jay, VT would like to have a trebuchet or catapult demonstrate their pumpkin chuckin' prowess at their fall event, which will be held on Saturday, October 7th, 2017, two weeks after our VTPC. If you are interested please contact: